Dive Brief:

• Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban recently announced that cryptocurrency Dogecoin can be used to buy tickets and merchandise online from the NBA franchise.
• "The Mavericks have decided to accept Dogecoin as payment for Mavs tickets and merchandise for one very important, earth shattering reason, because we can ... sometimes in business you have to do things that are fun, engaging and hopefully generate a lot of PR," Mark Cuban said in a press release.
• Experts caution against Cuban's move because they consider Dogecoin to be a joke coin.

Dive Insight:

The Dallas Mavericks team has been at the forefront of NBA teams accepting cryptocurrency for transactions. Prior to last week, they were already accepting other such digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, USDC Coin, Gemini Dollar, PAX Coin and Binance.

Despite Cuban hitting his mark in grabbing some headlines, analysts and experts immediately pushed back against Cuban's decision. Michael Novogratz, the former hedge fund manager and venture capitalist who leads Galaxy Digital Holdings, told Bloomberg, "Let's put people in the safest best stuff, not these joke coins. I think Mark's making a mistake there. He'd be better off with 15 other different ways to pay for his tickets."

Shortly after announcing the intention to accept Dogecoin, the Mavericks processed over 20,000 Dogecoin transactions in less than two days. Cuban says that makes the basketball team the largest Dogecoin merchant in the world.

According to Forbes, Dogecoin was originally started as a joke, named after a dog meme. Marketwatch stated Dogecoin was not "necessarily intended to be used as a means of payment but its value may reside more in the community around it and growing adoption by users."

Dogecoin saw a surge in popularity earlier this year. Coindesk reported celebrities including Elon Musk, Snoop Dogg and Gene Simmons all tweeted about the crypto, sparking interest.

One reason Cuban is bullish on Dogecoin — which Elon Musk calls "the people's crypto" — is because it is a unique tool that is so cheap, it's an inexpensive way for novice investors to learn about cryptocurrency. Cuban said it enables him to teach his son about investing. "It's fun, it's exciting and it's educational for him," Cuban said.

However, as an investor in Dogecoin, Cuban has an added incentive to see the Mavericks accept that cryptocurrency. "If [Cuban] has his team start accruing a cryptocurrency, then goes on an all-out blitz to promote that decision, the cryptocurrency will likely rise in value thanks to that endorsement," Yahoo! wrote.